


The Assistant | Remus Lupin

by TheOddWritingz



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Marauders - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Romance, The Marauders - Freeform, everyone lives au, remus Lupin x y/n - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28440156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOddWritingz/pseuds/TheOddWritingz
Summary: "Make a wish." He joked, holding the eyelash delicately in between his nimble fingers in between us.He held it like he was a lowly servant boy in charge with polishing the crown for the queen. With such grace and elegance, in all his movements. Whether they were sloppy or not, they had some grace.|||Maeve Reeves has always tried to be good and nice. Trying to stay away from her prank filled past.But after taking a job as the teaching assistant for a Hogwarts class, she's gonna realize that sometimes being bad is just what she needs.And being bad had a new name.(Originally called “This December”)
Relationships: Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter, remus Lupin x y/n
Kudos: 1





	1. Professor

**Author's Note:**

> So quick little thing: 
> 
> This is my first time posting on AO3 so things might be a bit wonky.
> 
> Some things may be off from the books/movies when it comes to the hp universe. Basically I’m kinda steering away from cannon and going into more head cannon territory.
> 
> Also Also!! This is kinda a universe I tweaked, so Tom Riddle/Voldemort died right after giving Harry his scar. But he didn't kill his parents since this is the everyone lives™️ universe. He's just —voop— gone.
> 
> In this story I'll put a cw(content warning) or tw(trigger warning) on the chapters if anything triggering were to occur. Although I don't think it will be needed.
> 
> Any criticism or comments or whatever, don't be afraid to share em! (pls i need validation)

I sat down in an empty train car awaiting some form of instruction. The first day always made me sick. I hated the feeling of starting new, even though I had gone here a few years ago. 

Three blissful years ago, and those years were filled with travel. Such nice travel too. 

Now I was a nervous adult waiting for the first day to be over with again. I remembered my first day perfectly, I knew no one and by the end of the day I had a family.

It would be different now. The teachers here always looked more closed off. Or maybe the teacher that I took the job under will be good and open.

Hopefully it wouldn't be anyone like Snape.

Snape was someone I hated, thankfully, he wasn't very fond of me either. 

The train car door opened and a wide eyed boy stepped in, he wore a yellow sweater and a kind smile. He seemed familiar, I must've gone here when he was just starting out. 

He looked at me like a true gentlemen and said, "Are you a transfer? I haven't seen you here before." He made himself at home and sat down across from me, straightening his back against the seat. 

And causing me to fix my posture as well.

"No no I'm not a transfer." I replied with a smile. He would probably be in that class. Oh what was it? The name slipped from my memory. 

What a shock it would be. When he'd see me helping the teacher with the extravagant teaching methods. 

"Oh," The boy furrowed his eyebrows themselves liked once again, a smile that would've melted my heart three years ago, but now he just looked silly, "well I'm Cedric." 

Ah. I knew he seemed familiar.

"Maeve." I nodded my head in response to his introduction. 

The students seemed quite nice. 

"Listen," Cedric started, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees, "I saw you checking me out on the train station ... And to be honest I was checking you out too." 

I started back at him with wide eyes. 

My first day and a student was hitting on me? 

I mean I looked young, I had short black hair with slight fringe I cut myself at 4 A.M, and I prided myself with my sense of style. 

But he— he thought I was checking him out? And he was checking me out? Whatever that meant.

"And me and my girlfriend are kind of on a break right now." Cedric reached out, not far, seeing as the car was quite compacted, and touched my knee. Rubbing it like it was his property.

"Cedric, you seem sweet but I'm—" I spoke softly before the train car opened again, Cedric jolted back and a man shouted.

"Ms. Reeves! There you are!" The man finished just as I mumbled, "... a teacher." 

I looked up to see a handsome man staring down at me, he looked slightly shocked to see me. Even more confused to see Cedric huddled in the corner of his seat. 

The man had a few scars running along his face, I tried not to stare even though my curiosity was piqued.

"Mr. Diggory, is everything alright?" The man asked sarcastically, not seeming to care about how Cedric felt. 

"Yes, sir, Professor Lupin .... sir." Cedric got up and pushed past both of us to leave. He looked absolutely mortified. And I had to hold back a small laugh.

"Professor Lupin?" I asked as he sat down where Cedric was originally sitting. Leaning back in the seat casually.

"Oh right," He sat up slightly and bowed dramatically, "Professor Remus Lupin at your service." 

I suppressed a giggled and introduced myself as well, "Maeve Reeves, but you probably already knew that, didn't you?" 

"Yes Ms. Reeves, how else was I supposed to stop that vulture unless I knew it was you?" He raised his eyebrows knowingly and that time I slipped and let out a laugh. 

The way Lupin said my name was different, most people said it with less grace. But he said it with elegance. With the grace most people lacked. 

"He was such a little vulture, I hope he isn't in my class." I mumbled, trying to look through the shiny car door.

"He isn't." Lupin blurted out, suddenly clearing his throat and adding, "I know all the children's schedules, your name wasn't on there. In fact, it wasn't on anyone's." He said with fake suspicion. 

"I hope my name wouldn't be there." I laughed, stopping as he furrowed his eyebrows and the wheels in his head turned, "I'm a teaching assistant. I'm not sure who's though."

Lupin threw head his back in laughter, hearty laughter. His smile tugged on the lines drawn on his face and it didn't seem to bother him.

"I know who's." He smiled, laughter erupted from his mouth when he saw my expression.

"Who is it?" I asked, my voice high, "It better not be Professor. Snape." I warned.

Lupin shook his head, "Don't worry, I would never let Dumbledore feed a newbie to the wolves.

I smiled and laughed along with him. It reminded me of my first day at Hogwarts. A boy who seemed so confident showed around a shy girl, even though they both had just arrived there.

Oh, the trouble they caused.

"You aren't going to tell me who it is are you?" I raised a curious eyebrow. 

That question would be gnawing at me until answered. Who was I assisting? It couldn't have been that horrible.

The door opened again, I braced to see Cedric but instead I saw three unfamiliar faces. Although they looked slightly familiar. Fourth years no doubt, first years when I left. 

One boy with dark hair and circle glasses, a boy with a furry sweater and red hair, then a girl with brown hair and a big smile. 

"Professor Lupin, there you are!" The boy with the glasses exclaimed. Before looking towards me and flushing a bright pink. 

Both boys blushed at me harshly, and the girl simply strutted in and took a seat by me.

"You must be Ms. Reeves?" The girl asked knowingly. 

"Yes indeed, who might you be?" I asked. 

The boys scrambled into the car and sat by Lupin.

"I'm Hermione, that's Ron," The red-haired boy waved awkwardly, "and Harry." The tanned boy with the glasses smiled at me and muttered something.

Something along the lines of being a chosen one.

"Very nice to meet all of you." I smiled, being nice to children was my specialty. Even faking it. Especially with the most annoying kids. 

"Professor Lupin," Harry turned to the Professor, "do you think we're gonna do anything dangerous this year?" He sounded quite excited for whatever dangers he hoped for.

"I hope not." Ron admitted.

"Me as well, dangerous stuff can be cool when done safely. But I don't trust a bunch of teenagers to do things conventionally." 

Harry laughed forcefully, "That's why I asked." 

Lupin looked towards me and gave me a look I knew. The quick look that consisted of an eyebrow raise, a head turned just slightly to the right, and a confused smile. 

Harry kept laughing, Hermione stared at him blankly before turning back to me, "So you're the new teaching assistant?" She asked.

"Exactly. You seem to know a lot about everything, Ms. Granger." I also knew a thing or two about my new students.

Hermione was about to speak again, but she stopped midway and a smile broke out. 

"What was your Hogwarts house .... Ma'am?" Ron asked suddenly, he was furrowing his eyebrows. Concentrated. 

"Not a Gryffindor if you were wondering." I smiled again, hoping the answer wouldn't make things too awkward. 

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows too, her brain was working like clock work to figure it out.

"Hufflepuff?" She finally asked. It was the obvious answer.

But not the actual answer.

I forced smiled this time and chuckled breathlessly, "Nope. I know, it catches people by surprise since apparently I give off Hufflepuff energy." 

Lupin laughed with me, "Oh so you're like Granger here? Super smart?" 

They all looked in my direction expectantly, hoping for this answer. But I couldn't lie to them on my first day. Lying on the first day never worked out for me.

I was suddenly brought back to my first day, sitting on the seat and getting sorted. Hearing the words...

"I'm a Slytherin."


	2. Slytherin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 🖤

It caught people off guard, somehow. A nice Slytherin wasn't that common apparently. It caught that boy I knew off guard. It was probably why he never spoke to me after that tour. Even after I tried finding him he ran.

I fiddled with the cuff of the sweater I was wearing as they all processed the information.

Lupin broke out in another smile, stretching his arms out, "I can see it."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes," he continued, ignoring the children's confused expressions, "I've found that the nicest of people I know are Slytherins."

Harry coughed into his elbow, although it sounded like he said "liar" oddly. Ron elbowed him in the back and Hermione swatted at them.

The rest of the train ride followed in suit, although as we were leaving the train car something was slipped into my pocket.

I rummaged around my pocket for a few seconds, finding a small piece of chocolate wrapped in gold wrappings.

I kept the chocolate in my pocket. To save it for later.

We all gathered into the great hall like I remembered, except I didn't sit with the children. I followed Lupin to the long table where all the teachers were saying their hellos to each other again.

"Oh Maeve!" McGonagall exclaimed, rushing from one end of the table to where she stood alone. 

Some of the teachers looked towards me, trying to remember who I was.

"Hi Professor McGonagall." I greeted, letting her wrap her frail arms around me and hug me gently.

"Oh please call me Minerva." She huffed, "It's been so long."

"Yes yes, about three years." I looked back into her aged eyes. Her face got more lined, but she aged with beauty. She always did.

"You're still taller than me." McGonagall chuckled, looking up at her former student.

Snape, for some ungodly reason, decided to walk up to McGonagall and greet her.

"Minerva," he nodded lifelessly, "who is this?" He cocked one eyebrow and stared at me as if he couldn't remember me.

But he probably interacted with hundreds of students. And it made me glad he couldn't remember me.

"Maeve Reeves, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts assistant." McGonagall rolled her eyes.

That was the name! I didn't know how it could've slipped from my mind. It was such an odd and long name.

Snape looked from her to me, then back to her. Unimpressed and seemingly bored.

"Oh!" McGonagall exclaimed again, seeing Lupin and pinning her focus onto him, "Remus I haven't seen you in so long either!"

She hurried away, leaving me and the spawn of Satan next to each other. Well Snape wasn't that bad, however he always seemed to like to scare students. And to just be mean to them, especially me.

Even when I was in the house he prided.

"Just so you're aware," he started, "this isn't puppy-dog fairy land. This is actual work, not play or some job you can get without care. Do not give Slytherin a bad name since you want to be ... different."

I gasped involuntarily, not remembering that I had to have a filter, "So you do remember me." I whispered.

Snape groaned and turned away from me to sit down at his seat at the table. I only hoped I didn't get one near him.

"Having fun?" Lupin asked, appearing at my side as I walked around the back to the table to get seated.

"Shoot, you scared me." I laughed. Trying my hardest and best to keep Snape's words from getting to me.

His words were nothing but unnecessary comments he chose to say aloud.

"That was the point." He replied with an easy shrug.

"How nice. But yes, Professor Lupin, if you must know I am having fun." I pulled an empty seat towards the end of the row of teachers out for me to sit in. It seemed empty from being anyone else's.

"That's very nice," Lupin paused and took the seat next to me, "aren't you going to ask if I'm having fun?"

"I thought the answer was obvious." I scooted my chair forwards, then sighed dramatically when he gave me a form of puppy-dog eyes.

It was him batting his eyelashes and looking at me in a way I'd sworn a dog had looked at me before.

"Are you having fun?" I finally asked with a sigh.

"If you really want to know, yes, Ms. Reeves, I'm having the utmost fun." Lupin took something out his pocket and began to unwrap it. Placing the foil onto his plate.

"Chocolate?" He asked with a mouth full.

"You were the one who gave me the chocolate?" I asked right back at him. My hand crammed into my pocket to pull out a square wrapped in a gold colored foil.

"Chocolate is my calling card." He raised his eyebrows.

"It's a sweet one." I smiled slightly, watching his reaction to the pun, when it finally clicked, made my smile widen.

"Have you figured out who you're assisting yet?" Lupin asked, he swallowed the chocolate and took mine from me when he realized I wasn't going to eat it.

"No, but I don't think it's Snape, Professor. He seems to hate me." I let a shrug roll through my shoulders. I tried to make it casual but I felt awkward.

My eyes scanned the great hall, Dumbledore stood by a podium getting ready for his speech. All the children were talking about at their tables. I noticed, some of them could not take their eyes off a certain part of the teachers table.

I couldn't tell which part, of course.

"That's just Snape, he seems to hate everyone." Lupin said in an innocent tone. He knew something I didn't, it was evident from how he refused to make eye contact anymore.

"Hello and welcome to Hogwarts!" Dumbledore shouted to get everyone's attention. It worked solidly.

"As you know we've had some changed and additions in staff. All of our professors have not changed for the worse, there is no need to worry." He reassured everyone.

"Ms. Reeves," Dumbledore suddenly pointed directly to me, with a pep in his voice. All eyes turned to me and I felt so compelled to stand and curtsy, "will be our new professor in training, or professors assistant, for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

His hand was still pointed at me, and everyone's eyes were still on me. I could hear the faint, sweet sound of Lupin giggling in the background. Instead of hitting him I kept a smile.

I could see faintly a blond kid from a table where my house sat was watching me almost scarily. Like Cedric was in the train car.

I had to remind myself that teenage boys saw me as an older piece of meat, rather than a teacher.

Every fidget I made someone was watching.

"I hope you treat her with the utmost respect you would any professor, and with that. We shall feast!" The table flashed and a plate full of food was in front of me.

And a glass of what I assumed to be wine.

I took a small sip of it and repressed a gag at the bitter taste .... yes, it was wine.

"You don't like wine, Ms. Reeves?" Lupin chuckled, stabbing his fork into some type of meat and eating it without hesitation.

"I'm not very fond of it. It almost tastes like black coffee, which would be better at this hour." I mused, taking one small look down at my plate and beginning to feast.

"Except black coffee is better, or any coffee for that matter." Lupin said, almost finished with his plate and glass of wine.

"That's exactly it." I replied. I took a giant bite of my meat and within a few more seconds it was all gone.

Dinner sped by within a flash in front of my eyes. The children exited the great hall and the teachers followed, branching off to leave to their courters. I followed behind a group of young Slytherins, they all walked with pride and energy, whereas I walked tiredly.

One Slytherin in particular started to slow down from his friends, soon walking next to me. He was at least a few inches taller than me, with hair as light as snow. 

The boy glanced at me every once in awhile, keeping the silence in the air heavy.

I felt my brain pick out a faint memory of my first night in my dorm. I remembered feeling terrified the walls would collapse into themselves and I would drown. 

"You know Hufflepuff is back that way." He said in a stuck up manor, as if I had not gone here before.

"Yes, I'm aware." I looked up at him. 

I wasn't that short, right?

"Gryffindor is just down that hall." He pointed casually to a hall we both passed within seconds.

"I know." I replied.

I was only five three, that wasn't that short. He was just exceptionally tall.

"You missed Ravenclaw when you left the great hall." He said, sounding a little desperate. 

"Mister ...." I paused, realizing I didn't know his name, "Listen, I know where all the houses are."

"Then you're aware that this is going into Slytherin?" He questioned.

"Yes, very aware. I've been down here about a hundred times." The white haired boy stumbled a bit, coming to the obvious conclusion in front of him.

The group of Slytherins made their way to the entrance of their dorm, signaling loudly for him to join them. Calling him Malfoy, but he looked too scrawny and ferret like to be a feared Malfoy. 

"Goodnight, Mr. Malfoy." Maybe it was some inside joke I was not apart of, but I didn't care. I was tired, slightly tipsy, and very much ready to sleep for a few hours.

I made my way to the teachers courters, which happened to house any professors of any house. I just chose the long way to get there, apparently. 

My hand felt along the wall to keep from falling in the darkness. It felt as though there were eyes staring down at me as I walked. Finally I found the door with the name 'Ms. Reeves' engraved on the front. 

And on the pillow was some chocolate wrapped in gold wrappings.


	3. Eyelash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also if I forgot to say this earlier: 
> 
> Fuck jkr

That morning I knew I woke up too early but I couldn't help it.

It was just early enough that the sun hadn't come up yet, it was beginning to peak through the trees but hadn't given way too much light. The sky was a mixture of blue and black, almost like smoke. The temperature outside seemed to look cold, the type of cold that smelt even better than it felt.

I adored that type of cold air.

Getting ready was easy. I found a scarf that I had stuffed into my bag, a purple one with some kind of fruit sewn in a pattern on the front.

The scarf fit perfectly with the white sweater I chose, it had brooms sewn all over it in the same type of white. The pattern was something you could feel, rather than see.

Walking through many of the corridors, especially the ones that were predominantly outside, gave me chills. Either from the beautifully cold air or the emptiness. The halls were illuminated with candles that were secured to the walls, but with barely any sunlight, the school still looked asleep.

I stepped out into the world, walking out a bit before wind blew at me from the side. It caught me off guard, but not for long.

Shaking it off, I continued to walk. Only to get shaken down by more wind.

Except this time, I lost my balance.

"Woah." I said aloud, stumbling back when more wind gushed towards my front.

"You know if you needed help standing you could've asked." Lupin said suddenly, startling me at that.

I hadn't even heard him behind me.

I craned my neck back to see him leaning on the outside wall of the school. He pushed himself off from his spot on the wall and stood by my side.

"You scared me, again, Professor." I admitted, finally finding the balance I lost.

"I tend to do that. Especially to people who don't quite pay attention to their surroundings." He smirked, sticking his hands in his pockets lazily.

"I pay attention ... sometimes." I said sheepishly, I couldn't admit to how oblivious I actually was. 

"Sometimes but not always. Tell me, Ms. Reeves, did you even hear me come up?" Lupin asked, while looking up at the ever lightning sky.

It began to turn a faded shade of blue, something light but not too light. It illuminated his face to look like a Greek statue almost.

I mentally shook away the thoughts suddenly, he was my coworker. I couldn't day dream about him.

I sucked in a breath and looked up at him. My cheeks, for some ungodly reason, filled with blush. Lupin saw that and tried his best to hide a smile.

"No, I didn't." I sighed.

"Did you hear Cedric walking up to your door?" Lupin asked me, with a now slight bitter tone.

A small part of me, the part that fancied reading romance novels, wondered if he was jealous. Jealous of a seventh year. That thought made me blush harder, and I just hoped he didn't notice.

"Not at all. I only hear him when he pried open the door." I laughed nervously.

"I heard his loud footsteps throughout the whole train. I'm surprised you didn't, Ms. Reeves." Lupin admitted, looking away from me to look down at the ground. He seemed ... embarrassed at that fact.

One thing I knew I envied about him was how he was able to observe the tiniest of things, and hear everything.

"Maybe I'm just different, Professor Lupin." I said mimicking his tone.

He looked back at me with a goofy smile.

A very handsome smile at that.

No, no, no. I would not do that, I couldn't let myself think he was handsome. Even if he was.

"Maybe you are. Oh-" Lupin reached out and caressed my cheek suddenly, looking focused on whatever he was doing. He rubbed his thumb in a small circle by my eye, on the apple of my cheek. His touch was warm and something I leaned into without thinking.

"You had an eyelash on your cheek." He murmured with the pure tone he always had, abandoning that sudden bitter edge.

We now both stood in front of each other, with the sun finally rising by the corner of my eye. The orange sunlight lit up both our faces, turning him into a god and me into a goblin perhaps.

"Make a wish." He joked, holding the eyelash delicately in between his nimble fingers in between us.

He held it like he was a lowly servant boy in charge with polishing the crown for the queen. With such grace and elegance, in all his movements. Whether they were sloppy or not, they had some grace.

I smiled back at him, thinking for a moment about what I would wish for. I knew that he wasn't serious, but I wanted to make it count.

"I wish that we'll get to work with each other very often."

Lupin's face filled with a bright smile as he listened to my words. He looked at me as if we already knew each other.

Like lost souls meeting each other after eons apart.

"Well I think," he looked down at the eyelash then back to me, "I think that's a lovely wish ... Ms. Reeves."

"Thank you ... Professor Lupin."

Time stopped, it always did whenever I felt flushed. There was something about him, the mystery and the kindness. It drew me in. I couldn't admit it out loud, but it did.

I barely knew him and yet I felt like I already did.

This wasn't a crush, no no, I was just becoming his friend. I didn't fancy him all of a sudden, I barely knew him.

Lupin's smile faded as he was looking at something behind me, he seemed to focus in on it like he did my cheek previously. I went to speak but he stopped me without even trying, just by looking back at me casually.

"We should probably get ready to head down to breakfast." He muttered. Suddenly far away.

I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, but as I walked away, after saying my goodbyes, I swore I saw a black dog. The dog was black and shaggy, un-kept and feral.

The animal stared intently at Lupin. Who just stared back.


	4. Quill

I knew where the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was, at least I thought I did.

I strolled around the corridors for a bit, running up stairs that always changed directions. And walking down the same hall at least twice. Each door looked the same, the same molding along the sides, and the same doorknob.

Until ... I saw one door.

It was painted black, to cover up the original color that was slightly peaking through. The doorknob was a faded silver and in the center of the door laid a bright silver eagle head.

Extravagant, the teacher was extravagant.

The door opened with ease, the classroom was fairly empty. Some kids were seated in their desks, other clumped together by different corners of the room. The room itself was large and airy, with windows bringing in way too much light.

I made myself at home by the desk in the front of the room, my old lesson planners fit perfectly by a bunch of scattered papers. All the papers had a lengthy scrawl written on the end, their signature. I pulled out an empty paper from my planner, I needed to make a list.

This teacher seemed to be so unorganized.

I walked to the back of the desk, knelt down, and began to rummage through to find a quill. Any quill would work, or many one of those muggle quills. The ones with ink built inside of the pen instead of having to be dipped.

I found a quill and a vial of ink, except the vial looked familiar. On the front, when moved around in certain lighting, there was a faint skull on the wrappings. it was just light enough that it could be missed, unless you were familiar with the prank memorabilia at Zonkos.

The lid unscrewed effortlessly and when I dipped the quill into the ink it was a dark blue rather than a black.

Invisible ink. I knew it.

My old pranking days seemed to pay off now.

I was about to put the ink away and find a real vial when I heard faint snickering behind me. The culprits. I instantly turned around, expecting to see short kid like teenagers. Instead I saw very tall man like teenagers, both with red hair and both looking exactly the same. Well sort of, the more I stared up at them the more I saw they weren't that similar.

They looked down at me with devious grins, although they tried to hide it.

"Yes?" I asked questioningly.

"Nothing ma'am." One said in between laughter he wasn't bothering to hide.

"I think you should tweak your pranks." I said casually.

They both glanced at each other then to me.

"I haven't the faintest idea to what you're talking about." The other one said with a straight face.

"Invisible ink is funny, sure, but slightly boring and anticlimactic if you think about it." I said, leaning onto the desk, "You boys should find the type of ink that explodes when you open it. I think it would be much better than inconveniencing me for a few minutes with ink that doesn't work." I continued.

They both looked at each other for a long second, then they looked at me again.

"How'd you know we used invisible ink?" One asked.

"Who do you think used it on almost every teacher here?" I couldn't keep a smile off my face when the wheels in their heads stopped turning and a smile appeared on their faces.

"Wicked." They both mumbled.

"I'm Fred, you see." Fred said, sticking out his hand for me to shake it.

"And I'm George." George said, sticking out his hand for me as well.

They seemed sweet, in a devious type of way. And their hands were both strangely cold, which made me remember who's hands were nice and warm.

"Outsmarting my students I see?" Said a familiar voice from behind me.

I turned around to see Lupin standing with a few books in his arms, and his signature smile.

"Your students?" I asked with hints of sarcasm.

It was him. He was going to be the professor I was assisting. That idea made me happy, it made me feel such joy I hadn't felt in awhile. Only since we were friends. We were just very professional friends.

"Yes," He walked up to the desk and set his books down, and he took out a small vial of ink and handed it to me, "George, Fred, hello."

The boys waved at the professor and made their way from the desk to their seats. A bunch of students flocked to them as they sat down, and I could see they kept pointing at me for some reason I didn't know.

"Thank you," I took the vial, opened it, dipped the quill in the ink delicately, and began to write down a list of things needed to organize. I could pick most of it up at Hogsmeade, but the rest I would need to apparate into a muggle town.

"Were you shocked, Ms. Reeves, to learn that I'm the professor you're stuck with?" Lupin asked smugly, looking over at the paper I was scribbling on. I couldn't see the face he was making as he turned around to the mobile chalk board by the desk.

"Very, I wasn't sure if I suspected it to be you or not." I looked up from the paper to see him writing down the lesson plan for today for all classes.

Review day, good. I could get some organization and cleaning in before the actual teaching began.

"Really? I thought I was being quite obvious," Lupin paused, with his back turned to me, "is this legible to you, Ms. Reeves?" 

I put the quill down and made my way to the chalk board. Standing next to Lupin made me feel uneasy in a very nice way. Butterflies, that was the word.

"Somewhat ... 'Review day for Defeat Again the Dark Malts, thrive through seething yearn'?" I looked back at him then to his jumbled writing, somehow I was able to keep my face from smiling.

"'Review day for Defense Against the Dark Arts, third through seventh year.'" He corrected, taking an eraser and erasing his writing.

"Sorry." I said, barely catching the small chalk he threw at me with a smile.

"Don't be, Ms. Reeves. You write, I teach." He brushed it off and put on a smile I hadn't seen before. One for the children. "Alright!" Lupin shouted, just loud enough to get the students attention, "Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts sixth years!"

I wrote as slowly as I could to get the most legible product. My writing was never perfect, but it was definitely better than his. And at the end I put a small heart, to defuse the first day jitters.

I knew that some kids would have it.

"Now, you all know me from last year, if you do not I am Professor Lupin. You all do not know my new assistant, this is Ms. Reeves. She has just as much authority as I do, only her specialties lie in writing better than I do and organization." He continued, speaking every word with the elegance he always had.

"Hello." I squeaked, now standing behind the desk. I still had to finish my list of things he needed. It was a lot.

Planning binders, a lesson planner, a clear written out schedule, more quills and ink vials, plain paper, a trash bin, and so many more things.

"If you have any questions for Ms. Reeves you might as well ask them now, today isn't going to be filled with a lot of knowledge to memorize." Lupin said confidently. He knew more about the class than I did.

A bunch of students rose their hands instantly, including the twins. I wondered if they were related to Ron.

I walked back over to Lupin, which gave me those butterflies again, and pointed at a girl to ask a question.

Those butterflies were simply nothing other than friendship butterflies, that was a thing right? Friendship butterflies?

"Is it true you were the seventh year who blew up a potion in Snape's face?" She asked excitedly.

How in Merlin's good name did they know about that? It wasn't something I was proud of, it was one of the only pranks I pulled that I got caught in. Many of the pranks I pulled were harmless, except this one wasn't exactly.

I got detention for three grueling months and so many house points taken away, from his own house too.

"Well- I ... How did you hear about that?" I asked back.

"My sister was there, and you look like the girl who did it." The girl replied, still looking at me with curiosity.

"I can't lie to kids." I muttered to myself, before saying, "Yes I did that."

Lupin coughed into his elbow, although I thought I saw him dying of laughter. Most of the kids were laughing as well, throwing their hands up to ask more questions.

All of the questions had to do with pranks that no one who pulled them, most of them were small ones I pulled I never admitted too. Although those kids got it out of me eventually.

I was simply glad I grew out of it, even though pranking did call my name every once in awhile. I just had to remind myself to stay professional.

In all aspects.


	5. Stray dog

That Saturday didn't come fast enough. Every class period, every day, and every night I got questioned about any pranks I pulled in my youth.

The news spread like wild fire, and Lupin enjoyed to see me scramble to put together an answer that wasn't a lie or the truth.

Snape kept glaring at me any chance he could get, all throughout last week, the week before, and this week. He must've known most of those pranks were mine.

But now the Hogsmeade trip was upon us, and I could finally get the supplies Lupin so desperately needed.

Lupin told me he hadn't been feeling that well and he was going to stay in his courters instead of chaperon the children with me. Although I felt sad, since my friend wasn't going to go with me, I was happy I would be surrounded by students who seemed to idolize me.

I wouldn't say I used that to my advantage ... But I did.

"Please be safe," Lupin told me through the crack in his door, he looked even worse, "who knows what could be out there?"

"Don't worry Professor Lupin, it's a full moon. Those always make me feel safer." I smiled and he recoiled, the pain probably got worse. Hopefully it was only a cold.

He closed it in my face after our goodbyes and I turned to walk to the great hall. There I would meet with the other chaperon and we would head off to Hogsmeade.

I wore a green jacket that hung off me loosely and pants that were dark. My outfit wasn't anything special, although I wished Lupin was in the right head space to see it.

Since he was my friend. Friends looked at each others outfits. Friends did that. 

"Ms. Reeves!" George exclaimed from his table, getting up and walking over to shake my hand forcefully.

"Good morning George." I smiled again. 

"He's not George, I am!" Fred shouted with a mouth full of food.

I rolled my eyes and let him lead me to the Gryffindor table. The Gryffindor's seemed to favor me after hearing how much I antagonized Snape during my years here. They didn't quite care I was from their opposing house. 

"Good morning all." I said, looking at all of their smiling faces. Joy, there was joy here. This table felt like joy. 

"Are you chaperoning us?" Harry asked, with a push of his glasses and a ruffle of his hair. He always tried to keep it as neat and messy looking at the same exact time.

"I am, however I'm trying to figure out who is the other chaperon. Or if it will just be me." I craned my neck and looked around the great hall. 

I didn't see any other teachers aside from Snape out and about. He couldn't possibly want to chaperon children, I assumed he hated them.

"I dunno .... you should eat with us!" Fred shouted. He was always a loud one, that was something I could use to help tell the twins apart from each other. George was still loud, but much quieter than his brother.

"I would but I am a teacher and I have a bunch to do before the Hogsmeade trip." That was partially true, I was a teacher and I probably had something to do. 

My list!

It dawned on me, I had completely forgotten about the slip of paper I would need if I was to apparate in a muggle city. It had all the supplies I needed to make sure Lupin ran a smooth class. 

"Like gathering my list of supplies. I will see you all there." I turned and swiftly walked away to the exit. 

There I tried to remember how I always arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, a few lefts then a couple rights. Except it always changed daily, with the moving staircase and flow of students. 

Finally, I arrived at the door and sloppily threw it open. 

My ears had to be playing tricks on me, I swore I heard someone talking before the door opened. I even thought I heard two men, impossible. There was no one there.

I headed to the desk and opened different drawers until I saw my familiar paper. 

Lupin had taken it upon himself to come up with more supplies for me to retrieve, in bright blue ink. Including muggle chocolates and colored pencils. 

Whatever those were. Some muggle invention, none the less I would get them.

Something shuffled behind me suddenly, without my consent, my legs swiveled around and I saw the same black dog. The dogs fur was tussled around, his tongue was out, and he stared at me confused.

A weird sense came over me, normally I would've ignored the dog and chalked it up to bad security. But instead I walked to the dog and knelt down in front of him. 

"Please do me a favor, dog," I felt odd talking to a dog, but he seemed to listen intently, "stay clear of any of the other teachers. They won't be as nice as me ... I don't think they like strays." I smiled softly at him and he seemed to nod in understanding. I had to be going crazy. Maybe it was the lack of breakfast. 

"But, if you were to run into any professor. Try to run into Professor Lupin, he seems to adore wild life in all respects. You know who that is, correct?" The dog quickly nodded his head, I stared back at him and cleared my throat.

"Right, right, right." Of course this stray dog new who Lupin was, he seemed to have an eye for nature. Anything of the sort always came to him.

I stood up again and grabbed the paper, then headed to the door without looking back. I didn't want to look back and see fifteen dogs staring back at me. 

Breakfast was quiet and fast after that, until Dumbledore stood from his seat and slowly made his way over to me.

I felt more fear than I ever did as he headed towards me, even though he seemed chipper than normal. Although, I hadn't really interacted with Dumbledore at all. 

"Hello Ms. Reeves." He nodded at me.

"Hello Professor Dumbledore." I said back in my friendly voice, it seemed to work on nervous first years.

"As you've probably heard," I sucked in a shallow breath, "every month or so the teachers have facility meetings. That isn't entirely true, we have a sort of ... What is the word ... Muggle game night."

That wasn't what I was expecting.

I released the breath and smiled, he wasn't going to fire me for my past pranks.

"I completely forgot to brief you in our sort of relaxation time. The next game night will be in about a month or so, I'll be choosing the game. And it will be a chance for you to get in on our betting pool." He smiled, nudging my shoulder.

I almost spit out the water I had forced down my throat. 

I never saw Dumbledore as the gambling type. 

"Betting pool?" I asked mid cough.

"Yes of course, mostly on the student's relationships." This was a bad time to take another sip of water.

"That was real? I thought that was a rumor." I murmured after the coughing stopped.

Dumbledore simply laughed loudly, causing students to turn their heads towards us. Then he inhaled and turned away.


	6. Prank

The walk to Hogsmeade was quite calm. Most of the children stayed with their group in the cold weather. It hadn't started snowing yet although it seemed like the sky wanted to.

Fred and George ran around everyone as we walked, with some sort of sticks. It almost looked like they were trying to sword fight with the frail things. And they didn't seem to be hurting anyone with their escapades.

And I seemed to be the only teacher chaperoning.

George jumped onto a rock beside a trail and tumbled onto the dirt in front of me. He looked up and burst into laughter when he saw my expression.

"Are you alright?" I asked, extending a hand for him to get up. He pushed my hand away and got up easily, although he did stumble a bit.

"Perfect." He smirked. The boy looked around for his brother, who was up ahead waiting for him. 

"Just both of you be careful, it'll be on my head if you're hurt." I shouted after them, as they both ran ahead after each other.

"I'm surprised they're listening to you." Ron shrugged when he fell into a step beside me. Harry, who was walking a ways away with Hermione, gave him a glare. I couldn't figure out why.

"Really? I guess I'm just an amazing authority figure." I smiled. The boy chuckled and looked up, in a way that I saw Lupin do once.

I wished he was the one I was talking to instead of Ron. While Ron was nice, much nicer than his friend Harry, there was someone else I wished I was walking and talking with.

"Does your friend Harry dislike me?" I asked spontaneously. It had been bugging me how much he seemed to glare. Was it because of my house? Or did he truly hate my guts for existing?

Ron looked at me, suddenly red. His eyes were red and his mind seemed to fog over.

"I ... uh .... I don't know how to answer that, Ms. Reeves." He looked away, mostly digging his feet into the ground as he walked.

"You don't have too. I just noticed he seemed to glare, a lot, a me. I didn't know if I said something to offend him or anything." I replied.

Ron turned back to me and sighed, "Well Harry has some prejudice against Slytherins, really against any house that isn't his."

"Oh." I said blankly.

"It's not you, Ms. Reeves," Ron continued, "he just doesn't like Slytherins." Ron looked truly sorry for his friends ignorance, however it didn't quite have an impact on me as he thought.

I knew house divides were common, I didn't expect it to happen between a teacher and a student. That fact caught me off guard. 

"That's fine. Not everyone will adore you in life, as you can see. I just hope it won't effect his performance in Defense Against the Dark Arts." I smiled, unbothered. I couldn't get consumed in that teenage drama of hating others for simply being different. 

"Now go, go to your friends. I should find the twins." I laughed, waving Ron away. He nodded, with a hint of 'I'm sorry' in his movements. But I forced my whole being to ignore it and find the twins.

They had ran up ahead and I hadn't seen them come back. 

After a bit of walking down the trail that led to Hogsmeade, I could see the two boys talking to some other man in long black robes. 

Shit. No, no, no, no. 

I fastened my pace into a bit of a jog until I reached them. 

Snape. Of course.

"... If I catch you two doing some unadulterated childish play like this again I will be forced to hand out lengthy detentions. And I am not lenient ... am I Ms. Reeves?" Snape turned around to me, my legs felt frozen in the dirt road, and he furrowed his eye brows. He looked at me with more hate then Harry did towards me. 

"No, professor Snape." I forced out, "But I allowed them to run ahead and play with those sticks."

"Yes, but are you a professor?" He raised his voice and I could see the twins flinch involuntarily. "Now," Snape turned back around and grabbed the sticks from their hands, I could see the internal debate plain on his face. The debate if he wanted to hit them with the sticks or not. He chose not, "leave us." 

The twins looked in between us both. I nodded and without any hesitation they backed away. They still stayed close, I noticed that. Just in case Snape did something. I would have to thank them for their protectiveness. 

I was not a very strong wizard, or very strong. However those two were towering Quidditch players.

"Do not try and test my power again, Ms. Reeves. Or I will be forced to suspend you." Snape sulked over towards me, but he stopped when I stumbled backwards.

He did not scare me. No. But I would've felt so much safer if Remus was there. 

Snape turned away from me and walked into the bustling town called Hogsmeade. I knew he could not suspend me, but I didn't want to take that chance. 

"You handled him like a champion." Fred said after him and George appeared by my side.

An idea sprung into my mind. An idea that the teenager in me adored, an idea that would get me in such trouble if it were to come out that I had helped with.

"Boys, how would you feel if I took you two to Zonkos and bought you two something that Professor Snape would love?" I asked as I turned around and watched the other students come around the bend. 

"Why would we treat Professor Snape?" George asked right back.

"No George, something he would 'love' at Zonkos." Fred hit his brother in the arm and he groaned dramatically.

"Yes, exactly. However, you two should know any knowledge of my association to this would be detrimental to my job. So I was never at Zonkos with you two." I smiled and looked up at the two, who smiled right back. I knew whatever they chose would be perfect to mess with Snape. 

After all the students had arrived at Hogsmeade, I told them all I would be hanging near Zonkos. If I wasn't there they could find me at Honeydukes. It wouldn't be suspicious if students saw me in Zonkos with the twins.

"What do you think would make him go crazy?" I asked as they browsed around the shop, both of their faces looked concentrated. They were focused solely on making Snape's life a living hell for a bit.

"Maybe one of those voice changers, give him a high voice for a few days." George suggested, grabbing a small vial.

"Or make his hair bright green, for his house." Fred said, popping out from a pillar with a bottle of dye.

"How would you get it into his shampoo?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Simple, we have a map." George smiled.

"You're a cool teacher, cool like us," Fred continued for his brother, "you won't tell if we spill the secret to our success." He pushed himself off the pillar and pulled out a ruffled up piece of paper from his pocket. 

The paper looked old, not as old as I thought it would have been though. There was a slight rip on the corner and some writing that wasn't quite visible on the center.

"Unless it happened to be dark magic," I muttered. 

George simply laughed at that, "Don't worry. It's a map." 

"And? Is there anything special about this map?" I looked up to see both of their faces, and they both had their signature devious smiles. 

"It shows everyone, everywhere, and every day." George said. 

"What they're doing, where they are, and in real time too." Fred shrugged and slipped the paper back into his pocket.

Hearing the twins had a map like that in their possession did not shock me as much as I knew I should have been shocked. They were prank legends apparently, this was not anything new.

"Won't Professor Snape know you two dyed his hair and changed up his voice?" I picked up the bottle of hair dye that Fred had. The label was invisible but it had the color green on the lid. 

"Unless we left the supplies in someone else's room." George giggled, high fiving his brother.

"Who should we frame today?" Fred asked his brother with a smile.

"Cedric Diggory," I suggested, they both looked at me with shock, they didn't expect me to partake in the framing part, "he was quite creepy to me on the train." 

"That is a perfect reason Ms. Reeves." George held out his hand for a high five as well, I high fived him then his brother.

"You are really cool Ms. Reeves." Fred laughed.

Maybe pulling a few pranks wasn't that bad as a teacher.


	7. Closet

I had gotten to class early to set up, a bit too early though. Normally a professor would come in early to get everything prepared, I got there even before Remus had gotten there to set up everything.

Breakfast would be soon then classes would start, so I was surprised to see him walk in this late.

Early for him late for me. 

"Oh, Ms. Reeves, you're early." Lupin said with startled surprise. He smiled his goofy smile and pushed his floppy hair back from falling into his face. I noticed that, his hair always flopped in any directions it wanted too. 

I noticed that a new scar ran up from the side of his jaw down past his neck. Although I was not staring at his neck, no, I was just concerned. For my friend. 

"And you, Professor Lupin, are almost late. Breakfast is in ten minutes, you have barely any time to prepare for class." I put the papers I had been shuffling around down onto his desk. Then I picked up the planner and flipped to the first page.

He watched intently, trying to figure out where I was going with all of this.

"What's the lesson plan for today?" I asked.

Lupin laughed hollowly and walked past me. He picked up the top paper I had been shuffling and pointed to some scribble on the front.

"This of course." He said with confidence, although he wouldn't be for long. His writing was truly worse than mine, and that was saying something. 

"No offense, but I can't read your writing." I said with a stifled laugh. I walked to the desk and set the blank planner on its top, looking back at him.

Without acknowledging my stare Lupin sighed and began to read, "'Mirror of Erised, study and show the dangers'. Happy?" He smirked as I jotted down his writing with the muggle pen. A store called Staples seemed to have everything, including muggle chocolates. I was even able to get myself some. 

"What does this mirror do that's so dangerous?" I prodded with curiosity. I had heard about that mirror before, but I always stayed away from using it.

"It shows you what you desire most in the entire world, Ms. Reeves. Would you care to try it?" Lupin smiled and put down the paper he had originally written on.

"Oh no I couldn't." I smiled back and continued to scribble with that pen. It was so much easier than having to dip back into ink every couple of minutes to finish a sentence.

"You seem to be doing better." I said after a long moment of silence. 

I put the pen down on the freshly used planner. Lupin furrowed his eyebrows at me in confusion until I clarified, "From your cold, you seem to get over it with such ease. I envy that, Professor Lupin." It normally took me weeks to overcome a cold, him it only took a day or two. 

Lupin cleared his throat and looked away, "Ah yes, the cold. I believe I'm just strong in the ways of keeping healthy, Ms. Reeves." He said in a smug way, although I found myself not being able to believe it that much.

My curiosity was getting the better of me, I wanted so desperately to know why he appeared to have a new scar. Why he had the old scars. I knew it was rude to pry, but there was some teenage girl inside of me that wanted to pry. One who wanted to touch his face like he did mine and run my fingers along the lines. 

We both stared back at each other, unspoken words lingering in the air. I couldn't see those words but I could feel them. Somehow we were getting closer, with his height I had to look up and he had to continue to lower his head down. 

My stomach then dropped as I realized I-

George suddenly burst through the door. The both of us jumped back, I stumbled for a few seconds until Remus grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. He wasn't paying too much attention to me and I almost crashed into the desk. 

"What is it?" He asked George as he sped to us, well past Lupin and to me.

George helped steady me and looked into my eyes with childlike excitement, "It worked!" He squealed.

"Really? George you aren't pulling my leg on this, are you?" I asked, somehow that same excitement was filling me as well. The rush of first seeing your prank in action, it took me back.

"What?" Lupin asked as he looked in between the both of us.

"I wouldn't dare pull the leg of a teacher. C'mon, look for yourself. He's yelling at Diggory in the courtyard." At that Lupin sped out of the classroom and we followed suit.

After a bit of speed walking down the halls we saw the sight. 

Children bursting out into laughter as Snape, with bright lime green hair and a high child-like voice, screamed at Cedric, who's hands were stained green. 

"It was Weasley!" Cedric cried in terror.

"Weasleys hands are not stained in green, are they Mr. Diggory!?!" Snape screamed, in his super high voice. 

I bumped into Lupin as I tried to get the best view, although Fred was almost front row in the whole event. I went to move a little away from how close I was to Remus but he instantly, without thinking about it, wrapped an arm around my shoulders. 

He looked down at me with a smile, and the tight crowd disappeared, "You did this didn't you?" He whispered. 

"No." I lied, I had to look away from him so I wouldn't spill my guts, "I simply funded the project." 

"How did they even get the dye in his products?" He asked. Lupin then looked down and realized how close we were, how his arm was around me, and inhaled slowly. His cheeks filled with a red he had seen on mine before. 

"Some map, the boys wouldn't let me see in its contents." I shrugged and inhaled as well. 

I could smell his cologne perfectly, it smelt almost bonfire like. The smell that filled the air when one person burned wood, the type of smell that carried on for miles upon miles.

"What was this maps name?" He asked slowly, with the wheels in his head slowly turning. 

"I don't know, why, did you create it?" I joked. 

The laughter we shared was short when he wouldn't deny and looked upwards to the sky, "You created their prank map?" I almost shouted until he hushed me loudly.

Lupin kept hushing me then turned and walked off. I followed him without even thinking and he seemed to want me too. His pace slowed to match mine and his voice lowered. 

"When I went to Hogwarts, a long time ago I'm very old," he smiled, "me and my friend group created this map to help coordinate all of our pranks. The secret-"

I cut him off, "To your success, it seems to be the twins new shiny catch phrase." Lupin continued to smile as I finished his sentence, and I refused to hear that part he mentioned about being very old. He wasn't that old, he couldn't be.

"Ms. Reeves!" Fred and George both shouted by a door in the hall. 

They were in the crowd, how did they get there?

The map. Of course.

"Yes?" I asked as we both approached them and their mysterious door. 

"We don't have a key to get into the storage closet," George started.

"And we have to get to class," Fred interrupted. 

"Professor Lupin, Ms. Reeves, could you unlock it and get the parchment for us?" George asked with a sort of puppy dog eyes. I had seen those before, I couldn't remember where but it seemed as though every guy I knew, knew those eyes.

"Of course." Lupin said with suspicion that didn't last for long. He took out a small key I had seen before and unlocked the door.

It swung open to reveal a barely visible closet.

"What did you say you needed boys?" I asked as I stepped into the small, compacted, tiny closet.

My breathing started to feel shallow.

No, I had to remind myself, I would only be in there for a second. The walls could not close in on me in only a second. 

"Parchment I believe." Lupin said as he stepped in behind me, reaching up to grab a scroll filled with fresh paper.

The light in the closet started to dim, until it stopped entirely. I first thought that Lupin had been blocking it with his height, but as I turned around I saw the door was replaced with blackness.

"Boys...?" I whimpered. My breathing began to hitch. 

This could not be happening. Not now. Not in front of him.

"Boys?!" I shouted, my feet rushed me to the door and I gripped the doorknob. I shook it a few times but it would not let out. 

"No no no no." Lupin whispered, he walked up behind me and placed his warm hand on top of mine. Something pulsed inside of me and my hand swiftly moved from the doorknob. He shook it a few times and sighed.

"My wand..." He muttered, feeling around his pockets, his feeling got frantic before he groaned and threw his head back, "The one time I forget my wand.." 

I gasped lightly and pushed myself back into the closet. The darkness, while blinding, felt as if it was squeezing my neck. Air became short in supply. Each time I squeezed in a breath I had to stop myself from falling down and wheezing. 

The small specks of light seemed to be magnified, just enough that it felt as though the supplies were falling. Surrounding and closing in on me. 

"Boys!! This is not funny! Let us out!" Lupin shouted with more fury than fear. He must not have noticed me until I began to wheeze.

Air couldn't come in any other way. 

His features soften as he noticed and realized. My stupid childlike phobia. I had to show it off in front of him, in front of the guy I was stuck in a closet with. 

"I'm sorry." I choked out. The hand that squeezed my neck got tighter, it never softened like his voice did. 

"No, hey, look," Lupin rushed over to me, his tall height blocked out all the darkness but it still closed in from the sides. I could still feel it, "look at me Ms. Reeves." 

I reached up and clutched my neck, it did not alleviate the pain the hand gave me. But it gave me a short way out. If I squeezed with the hand maybe I could pass out, take the easy way out.

Lupin furrowed his eyebrows and reached out, he instead clutched the sides of my face. His spare fingers ran down my neck, each touch made me feel light. My hands fell limply from my neck to grip onto his arms. 

"Look into my eyes, focus on them. Ms. Reeves, I know it's not much. But try not to focus on our situation please." He almost begged. His voice was soothing, so much more soothing than the raspy mess mine had become.

I was suddenly choking back tears, it forced a lump into my throat. The lump dried up my mouth and made me feel weak and helpless.

"I'm sorry, professor I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry." I sobbed but no tears came out. The world squeezed in on me again and I fell back. Lupin kept his hands on my face, rubbing small circles, and he tried his best to keep me staying steady. 

"Remus, please Merlin, call me Remus." Lupi- Remus whispered, his voice was so much steadier than mine was. I almost envied it. 

I envied how he felt nothing, he felt no fear at the thought of being locked in a small closet. I felt like I was dying.

"Remus, I'm sorry." I choked. Air flow stopped and I let out a few gasps which sounded like cries. It hurt, it hurt not being able to see or breathe or feel okay. 

"Don't be sorry, Ms. Reeves-" He began but I cut him off with an almost plea sounding response.

"Maeve, please call me Maeve! Merlin the walls are still ..." Remus brought his face close to mine, his arms were dropped down but his hands were still on my face, "... closing in." I murmured.

This distracted me. In more ways then I wanted to admit, this made my brain suddenly go foggy. 

"Maeve," Remus smiled small-like, "do you remember those Hogsmeade trips?" Why on Earth would he bring up Hogsmeade at a time like this?

"Yeah.. yeah I remember." I shook my head repeatedly. 

"Would you like to chaperon with me at the next trip?" He asked with his signature innocence. 

I gasped slightly and forced myself to breathe in then out. I looked up at him with wide eyes suddenly I couldn't feel my feet. I stumbled forward and he chuckled when I did. 

"Really? Are you just saying this to distract me?" I asked quietly. My breathing had started to stabilize, whatever he seemed to be doing was helping. Whether it was distracting me or simply being himself.

"Not .. partially, but I wanted to ask you. And this gave me a good reason too." He smiled and I couldn't help but do the same. 

We stared in silence at each other again, moving in close as we did earlier. But we got closer and closer. The dark veiled our vision a tad, so I couldn't see when I was too close. Yet I knew I was. And we both enjoyed it. 

This time my stomach didn't drop when I realized it. 

When I realized my feelings for Remus Lupin weren't anything platonic. They couldn't be. 

The door suddenly opened, the crack of light blinded me almost. I couldn't help but push Remus out of the way to get out. I stumbled out and sucked in as much air as I could when I was in the hallway again. 

Neville, a boy who was about in his forth year, stared at us both wide eyed and confused. 

His hair was naturally a mess and his eyes were wide.

"Miss?" He stuttered out, extending a hand to help me steady myself.

I took his hand and looked at him thankfully, "May I?" I asked as I went to wrap him in a hug. He nodded, obviously confused, as I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him tightly.

"Thank you so much Neville!" I squealed unintentionally. 

Remus stepped out of the closet with what seemed to be annoyance, I wasn't quite paying attention to him at that point. 

"Why were you both ... in there?" Neville asked as I pulled away from the hug and smiled widely at him.

I could finally breathe slightly normal. 

"The twins locked us in there." Remus sighed, he looked down at his watch then back to me, "Class started twenty minutes ago, we should head back there and give them hell." He grinned his goofy grin and extended a hand to me. 

"I can walk perfectly fine on my own." I said, although my steps were a bit shaky.

I wasn't magically back to normal, but I wasn't as bad as I was. My breathing was still as shaky as my movements were, but I wasn't choking. I was semi normal. 

And Remus and I did, in fact, give those twins hell. Not to mention a detention.


	8. Closet

I had gotten to class early to set up, a bit too early though. Normally a professor would come in early to get everything prepared, I got there even before Remus had gotten there to set up everything.

Breakfast would be soon then classes would start, so I was surprised to see him walk in this late.

Early for him late for me. 

"Oh, Ms. Reeves, you're early." Lupin said with startled surprise. He smiled his goofy smile and pushed his floppy hair back from falling into his face. I noticed that, his hair always flopped in any directions it wanted too. 

I noticed that a new scar ran up from the side of his jaw down past his neck. Although I was not staring at his neck, no, I was just concerned. For my friend. 

"And you, Professor Lupin, are almost late. Breakfast is in ten minutes, you have barely any time to prepare for class." I put the papers I had been shuffling around down onto his desk. Then I picked up the planner and flipped to the first page.

He watched intently, trying to figure out where I was going with all of this.

"What's the lesson plan for today?" I asked.

Lupin laughed hollowly and walked past me. He picked up the top paper I had been shuffling and pointed to some scribble on the front.

"This of course." He said with confidence, although he wouldn't be for long. His writing was truly worse than mine, and that was saying something. 

"No offense, but I can't read your writing." I said with a stifled laugh. I walked to the desk and set the blank planner on its top, looking back at him.

Without acknowledging my stare Lupin sighed and began to read, "'Mirror of Erised, study and show the dangers'. Happy?" He smirked as I jotted down his writing with the muggle pen. A store called Staples seemed to have everything, including muggle chocolates. I was even able to get myself some. 

"What does this mirror do that's so dangerous?" I prodded with curiosity. I had heard about that mirror before, but I always stayed away from using it.

"It shows you what you desire most in the entire world, Ms. Reeves. Would you care to try it?" Lupin smiled and put down the paper he had originally written on.

"Oh no I couldn't." I smiled back and continued to scribble with that pen. It was so much easier than having to dip back into ink every couple of minutes to finish a sentence.

"You seem to be doing better." I said after a long moment of silence. 

I put the pen down on the freshly used planner. Lupin furrowed his eyebrows at me in confusion until I clarified, "From your cold, you seem to get over it with such ease. I envy that, Professor Lupin." It normally took me weeks to overcome a cold, him it only took a day or two. 

Lupin cleared his throat and looked away, "Ah yes, the cold. I believe I'm just strong in the ways of keeping healthy, Ms. Reeves." He said in a smug way, although I found myself not being able to believe it that much.

My curiosity was getting the better of me, I wanted so desperately to know why he appeared to have a new scar. Why he had the old scars. I knew it was rude to pry, but there was some teenage girl inside of me that wanted to pry. One who wanted to touch his face like he did mine and run my fingers along the lines. 

We both stared back at each other, unspoken words lingering in the air. I couldn't see those words but I could feel them. Somehow we were getting closer, with his height I had to look up and he had to continue to lower his head down. 

My stomach then dropped as I realized I-

George suddenly burst through the door. The both of us jumped back, I stumbled for a few seconds until Remus grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. He wasn't paying too much attention to me and I almost crashed into the desk. 

"What is it?" He asked George as he sped to us, well past Lupin and to me.

George helped steady me and looked into my eyes with childlike excitement, "It worked!" He squealed.

"Really? George you aren't pulling my leg on this, are you?" I asked, somehow that same excitement was filling me as well. The rush of first seeing your prank in action, it took me back.

"What?" Lupin asked as he looked in between the both of us.

"I wouldn't dare pull the leg of a teacher. C'mon, look for yourself. He's yelling at Diggory in the courtyard." At that Lupin sped out of the classroom and we followed suit.

After a bit of speed walking down the halls we saw the sight. 

Children bursting out into laughter as Snape, with bright lime green hair and a high child-like voice, screamed at Cedric, who's hands were stained green. 

"It was Weasley!" Cedric cried in terror.

"Weasleys hands are not stained in green, are they Mr. Diggory!?!" Snape screamed, in his super high voice. 

I bumped into Lupin as I tried to get the best view, although Fred was almost front row in the whole event. I went to move a little away from how close I was to Remus but he instantly, without thinking about it, wrapped an arm around my shoulders. 

He looked down at me with a smile, and the tight crowd disappeared, "You did this didn't you?" He whispered. 

"No." I lied, I had to look away from him so I wouldn't spill my guts, "I simply funded the project." 

"How did they even get the dye in his products?" He asked. Lupin then looked down and realized how close we were, how his arm was around me, and inhaled slowly. His cheeks filled with a red he had seen on mine before. 

"Some map, the boys wouldn't let me see in its contents." I shrugged and inhaled as well. 

I could smell his cologne perfectly, it smelt almost bonfire like. The smell that filled the air when one person burned wood, the type of smell that carried on for miles upon miles.

"What was this maps name?" He asked slowly, with the wheels in his head slowly turning. 

"I don't know, why, did you create it?" I joked. 

The laughter we shared was short when he wouldn't deny and looked upwards to the sky, "You created their prank map?" I almost shouted until he hushed me loudly.

Lupin kept hushing me then turned and walked off. I followed him without even thinking and he seemed to want me too. His pace slowed to match mine and his voice lowered. 

"When I went to Hogwarts, a long time ago I'm very old," he smiled, "me and my friend group created this map to help coordinate all of our pranks. The secret-"

I cut him off, "To your success, it seems to be the twins new shiny catch phrase." Lupin continued to smile as I finished his sentence, and I refused to hear that part he mentioned about being very old. He wasn't that old, he couldn't be.

"Ms. Reeves!" Fred and George both shouted by a door in the hall. 

They were in the crowd, how did they get there?

The map. Of course.

"Yes?" I asked as we both approached them and their mysterious door. 

"We don't have a key to get into the storage closet," George started.

"And we have to get to class," Fred interrupted. 

"Professor Lupin, Ms. Reeves, could you unlock it and get the parchment for us?" George asked with a sort of puppy dog eyes. I had seen those before, I couldn't remember where but it seemed as though every guy I knew, knew those eyes.

"Of course." Lupin said with suspicion that didn't last for long. He took out a small key I had seen before and unlocked the door.

It swung open to reveal a barely visible closet.

"What did you say you needed boys?" I asked as I stepped into the small, compacted, tiny closet.

My breathing started to feel shallow.

No, I had to remind myself, I would only be in there for a second. The walls could not close in on me in only a second. 

"Parchment I believe." Lupin said as he stepped in behind me, reaching up to grab a scroll filled with fresh paper.

The light in the closet started to dim, until it stopped entirely. I first thought that Lupin had been blocking it with his height, but as I turned around I saw the door was replaced with blackness.

"Boys...?" I whimpered. My breathing began to hitch. 

This could not be happening. Not now. Not in front of him.

"Boys?!" I shouted, my feet rushed me to the door and I gripped the doorknob. I shook it a few times but it would not let out. 

"No no no no." Lupin whispered, he walked up behind me and placed his warm hand on top of mine. Something pulsed inside of me and my hand swiftly moved from the doorknob. He shook it a few times and sighed.

"My wand..." He muttered, feeling around his pockets, his feeling got frantic before he groaned and threw his head back, "The one time I forget my wand.." 

I gasped lightly and pushed myself back into the closet. The darkness, while blinding, felt as if it was squeezing my neck. Air became short in supply. Each time I squeezed in a breath I had to stop myself from falling down and wheezing. 

The small specks of light seemed to be magnified, just enough that it felt as though the supplies were falling. Surrounding and closing in on me. 

"Boys!! This is not funny! Let us out!" Lupin shouted with more fury than fear. He must not have noticed me until I began to wheeze.

Air couldn't come in any other way. 

His features soften as he noticed and realized. My stupid childlike phobia. I had to show it off in front of him, in front of the guy I was stuck in a closet with. 

"I'm sorry." I choked out. The hand that squeezed my neck got tighter, it never softened like his voice did. 

"No, hey, look," Lupin rushed over to me, his tall height blocked out all the darkness but it still closed in from the sides. I could still feel it, "look at me Ms. Reeves." 

I reached up and clutched my neck, it did not alleviate the pain the hand gave me. But it gave me a short way out. If I squeezed with the hand maybe I could pass out, take the easy way out.

Lupin furrowed his eyebrows and reached out, he instead clutched the sides of my face. His spare fingers ran down my neck, each touch made me feel light. My hands fell limply from my neck to grip onto his arms. 

"Look into my eyes, focus on them. Ms. Reeves, I know it's not much. But try not to focus on our situation please." He almost begged. His voice was soothing, so much more soothing than the raspy mess mine had become.

I was suddenly choking back tears, it forced a lump into my throat. The lump dried up my mouth and made me feel weak and helpless.

"I'm sorry, professor I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry." I sobbed but no tears came out. The world squeezed in on me again and I fell back. Lupin kept his hands on my face, rubbing small circles, and he tried his best to keep me staying steady. 

"Remus, please Merlin, call me Remus." Lupi- Remus whispered, his voice was so much steadier than mine was. I almost envied it. 

I envied how he felt nothing, he felt no fear at the thought of being locked in a small closet. I felt like I was dying.

"Remus, I'm sorry." I choked. Air flow stopped and I let out a few gasps which sounded like cries. It hurt, it hurt not being able to see or breathe or feel okay. 

"Don't be sorry, Ms. Reeves-" He began but I cut him off with an almost plea sounding response.

"Maeve, please call me Maeve! Merlin the walls are still ..." Remus brought his face close to mine, his arms were dropped down but his hands were still on my face, "... closing in." I murmured.

This distracted me. In more ways then I wanted to admit, this made my brain suddenly go foggy. 

"Maeve," Remus smiled small-like, "do you remember those Hogsmeade trips?" Why on Earth would he bring up Hogsmeade at a time like this?

"Yeah.. yeah I remember." I shook my head repeatedly. 

"Would you like to chaperon with me at the next trip?" He asked with his signature innocence. 

I gasped slightly and forced myself to breathe in then out. I looked up at him with wide eyes suddenly I couldn't feel my feet. I stumbled forward and he chuckled when I did. 

"Really? Are you just saying this to distract me?" I asked quietly. My breathing had started to stabilize, whatever he seemed to be doing was helping. Whether it was distracting me or simply being himself.

"Not .. partially, but I wanted to ask you. And this gave me a good reason too." He smiled and I couldn't help but do the same. 

We stared in silence at each other again, moving in close as we did earlier. But we got closer and closer. The dark veiled our vision a tad, so I couldn't see when I was too close. Yet I knew I was. And we both enjoyed it. 

This time my stomach didn't drop when I realized it. 

When I realized my feelings for Remus Lupin weren't anything platonic. They couldn't be. 

The door suddenly opened, the crack of light blinded me almost. I couldn't help but push Remus out of the way to get out. I stumbled out and sucked in as much air as I could when I was in the hallway again. 

Neville, a boy who was about in his forth year, stared at us both wide eyed and confused. 

His hair was naturally a mess and his eyes were wide.

"Miss?" He stuttered out, extending a hand to help me steady myself.

I took his hand and looked at him thankfully, "May I?" I asked as I went to wrap him in a hug. He nodded, obviously confused, as I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him tightly.

"Thank you so much Neville!" I squealed unintentionally. 

Remus stepped out of the closet with what seemed to be annoyance, I wasn't quite paying attention to him at that point. 

"Why were you both ... in there?" Neville asked as I pulled away from the hug and smiled widely at him.

I could finally breathe slightly normal. 

"The twins locked us in there." Remus sighed, he looked down at his watch then back to me, "Class started twenty minutes ago, we should head back there and give them hell." He grinned his goofy grin and extended a hand to me. 

"I can walk perfectly fine on my own." I said, although my steps were a bit shaky.

I wasn't magically back to normal, but I wasn't as bad as I was. My breathing was still as shaky as my movements were, but I wasn't choking. I was semi normal. 

And Remus and I did, in fact, give those twins hell. Not to mention a detention.


End file.
